Start message with the video: "JESUS FOLLOWER" (1:14) found at Sermon Central
Who or what are you following? As the video said, we all follow something, we pattern our lives after someone or something. What is it? Here today in church, the Sunday School answer is “we follow Jesus.” Do we really? Today we are looking at Discipleship.
Discipleship is church-word we use instead of saying I follow Jesus. Often we are quick to respond, “Yes I’m disciple of Jesus,” just like we say, “Yes, I’ a Christian.” But do we really understand what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus?
Laster year, I preached a series of sermons about Discipleship. I was inspired by the book “The Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (considered by many a modern classic). Bonhoeffer was one of the leaders of what was referred to as the “Confessing Church” in Germany during WW2. He martyred/executed by the German Gestapo less than a month before Germany surrendered. I couple of statements by Bonhoeffer is worth noting:
"Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ."
"Salvation is free, ... but discipleship will cost you your life."
True Discipleship is costly. Jesus said:
Mark 8:35 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
In the early church, to be a believer in the Gospel message meant that you became a disciple. Today we are looking at just what it means to be a disciple, a true follower of Jesus.
When we were in Indonesia, the Alkitab, or the Indonesian Bible, did not have a word for “disciple,” they just used the word “murid.” Murid, directly translated from Indonesian means a student. But the word “Student” dosed not adequately describe a disciple. A disciple is not one who just sits in a classroom and learns the facts about a given subject, and in our case, facts about Christianity and about the Bible. Discipleship is so much more than Sunday School and Bible study. Those are important, but Discipleship involves the living out what is learned, daily. Discipleship, being a disciple is a whole way of life.
One great writer on discipleship put it this way: "Discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if He were you."[1]
Today, I’m taking a little different approach to Discipleship. I’m asking the question, “How can you tell if you are truly a disciple, a follower of Jesus.
1 John 2:3–6
I want to take a moment to look at our passage today as a whole before we go in and look closer at the parts. We will see that there is a definite link between obedience and our knowledge of God. The objective of a disciple is know the Master in order to be like the Master. Key words for us to understand are the words “to know,” “to keep His commandments,” “abiding in Him,” and “walk as He walked.” Are we doing those things? These verses are describing one who is a disciple.
1 John 2:3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
Just what does it mean “to know Him,” to truly know Jesus? The word here in the Greek is the word “ginosko.” This word, or forms of this word is used 25 times in this little letter and 56 times in the Gospel of John. To know, to understand, to grasp intellectually and experientially is important in the writings of John. It means so much more than mere book knowledge.
Real knowledge of God contains an intellectual, moral, and spiritual component that cannot be separated. The “knowledge” of God described throughout the text of Scripture is not only intellectual but also experiential and dynamic. This knowledge is not gained through abstract speculation but through living life in a spiritual relationship with the one true God [2]
It is all about knowing Jesus, knowing Him personally and intimately. Jesus even defined eternal life as knowing Him.
John 17:3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
So how can we say we truly know our master as a disciple? We can say it: “if we keep His commandments.” (1 John 2:3) We learn and we experience by doing. One of the best methods of learning a task is “on the Job Training.” We learn by doing. By doing those tasks, by following the orders, we begin to learn, we begin to see, we begin to understand. This also is a common theme in the writings of John. To hear, to perceive, to know intimately, is to obey.
1 John 3:22–24 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.
Verse 4 is a converse of verse three. It states the same thing but in a negative way.
1 John 2:4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
Gnosticism was just becoming a thing in John’s day. People claim to have a secret knowledge about God, but they made no attempt to live out God’s commandments. The same is true today. I’ve had people tell me they know all about Jesus and God, but they live no different from the rest of the world. The Word of God calls them a liar. I don’t call them a liar, the word of God does that.
Herein is a tough truth (this is not a feel good sermon today) If you say that you know Jesus but live no differently than the rest of the world, the Word of God calls you a liar and the Truth (John 14:6 says Jesus is the truth) is not in you. Keeping the commands of God is not a condition of knowing God, but is a sign that one does or does not. [3] Jesus said it best:
Luke 6:46 “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
One who calls themselves a follower of Jesus, and they believe in Jesus and they know Him personally but on close examination, if they are not living out his precepts, following the things they know full well what they ought to be doing, their statement of faith is on shaky ground. And that is the problem with many today. They claim salvation but they live like the rest of the world. The word of God says they are lying. That may sound harsh, but Paul urges us to examine ourselves:
2 Corinthians 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?
Clearly, the Bible is not saying that we have to exhibit perfect obedience. First John 1:8 tells us that if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and make God out to be a liar. The issue appears to be whether or not we take God’s commandments seriously and are trying our best to keep them. We may not keep them perfectly. We may not even have a perfectly consistent desire to keep them. But if we are truly born again, we will not live our lives in total disregard for God’s commands.[4]
This command is a theme throughout scriptures. James tells us
James 1:22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.
But if we are striving to truly follow Jesus, keeping His commands, we will find that we are coming to know Him better every day.
1 John 2:5a but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.
The love of God has been perfected as we keep His word. What is being referred to here? Our love for God or is it God’s love for us? The argument can be made either way.
We are the object of God’s love. He does desire to bless us, but how can He do so if we are not keeping His word? Many think of God's commands as a list of do’s and don’t’s – mostly don’t’s. But that is not what word tell us. John writes:
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
Most of what God calls for us to do is for our own good, for our own benefit. Following God's word, we can see how much God does love us. In this sense we see God’s love for us being perfected in us.
Back to verse 5, let us consider our love for God.
1 John 2:5a but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.
By following His ways, we cannot help but love God more. Our love for Him will be perfected, and we will love others as well. This also is a big theme in the letter of 1 John.
1 John 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
Jesus had a bit to say about this. How could people tell if we were His disciples?
John 13:34–35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
To love God more perfectly is to love others.
But as we move on, the last part of verse 5 leads us into verse 6.
1 John 2:5b–6 By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
Are we abiding in Jesus, do we really know him intimately? If we do, then like a good disciple, we imitate our Master, and we walk as He walked. Jesus had a lot to say about abiding in Him.
John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
And what is the proof of our abiding in Him?
John 15:8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
We bear fruit in our walk. And how should our walk look, in what manner did Jesus walk? Paul tells us:
Philippians 2:5–8 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Jesus was obedient, even to the death on a Roman cross. Are we obedient? Will we give all to be a true disciple of Jesus?
Yes, discipleship is far more than mere listening to sermon, or attending a Bible Study. These are very important and it does start there, but discipleship encompasses our whole life. The question I leave you with this morning is, If you say you know Jesus, are you obeying him?
[1] www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/82804/discipleship-by-gordon-curley
[2] Daniel L. Akin, 1, 2, 3 John, vol. 38, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001), 91.
[3] Daniel L. Akin, 1, 2, 3 John, vol. 38, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001), 91–92.
[4] David Walls and Max Anders, I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude, vol. 11, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 172–173.
